


Haunted

by Changing (orphan_account)



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: But I hope you like it anyway, F/M, Gen, Harley is the bomb, aliens are awesome, i don't really know what i'm doing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-05
Updated: 2013-05-06
Packaged: 2017-12-10 11:57:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/785807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Changing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post IM3 Spoilers. Summary inside. WARNING: Depictions of PTSD induced anxiety attacks inside.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. So it Begins

**Author's Note:**

> Tony Stark gave Harley the best Christmas present ever. A workshop outfitted with a lighter version of JARVIS. But danger strikes again quickly. After all, Tony, and everyone around him, near or far is a target.
> 
> BETA'D I went through and corrected some typos and added a few things to the first chapter. Nothing significant plot wise, just a smoother front for the storm to ride.

Chapter 1

7:13 am Rose, Tennessee

Harley stood on the stool reaching for the last piece to his puzzle. He moved to stand up on his tip-toes better and the legs wobbled beneath him. 

“Perhaps you can find a better method to obtain the wire cutter, young master Harley. It would be a shame if you fell and hurt yourself in the name of science.” JARVIS’ voice still echoed against the metal walls in the shed. Something in his voice hinted at sarcasm.

“Yeah, and it would be a shame if I took you apart in the name of science and used your parts for this,” Harley grunted and, as a last ditch attempt, gave a short hop, snatching up the rusted wire cutter. His foot barley caught the side of the stool and he toppled to the floor, the wooden step stool clattering beside him.

“Ouch!” He sat up and rubbed his sore arm. A can of bolts scattered around the floor and the boy picked up them up with haste. 

“I do try to refrain from saying ‘I told you so’. It’s in my programming.” Harley glared upwards. “Besides, you’d find it difficult to use a motherboard and speaker plates in lieu of bolts.”

“Yeah, yeah,” the boy got to his feet and took the bucket and tool to his workbench. “JARVIS, pull up the blueprints for the armor I wrote yesterday.”

“Print #23 ‘The Robo-Racer’, Friday May 2nd, 2013. 7:38pm. 

Before him on the left hand side of the workbench a blue holographic diagram appeared. It was an image of a small robot. the bottom half was similar to an RC car and the top was humanoid, but with no facial features. Harley threw his goggles over his face and collected wires from the car, a Christmas present from his mother last year, in a chunk and zip tied them together. He clipped and connected the ends to the prongs of an ipod dock he found at a garage sale and turned it on, spinning the volume knob till he saw sparks from the wires. 

The ‘torso’ was made from a hollowed out Ken doll he found in the far corner of his sister’s room. He figures she doesn’t play with it much anyway and she wouldn’t miss it. With the rider set in place wires poking out of the hinge of its arm connecting to the power source, Harley nearly bounced with excitement. 

“Alright, J.” Harley grabbed the remote for the car. “Get my good side in this one ‘kay?”

“But, sir, whichever side could that be,” Harley rolled his eyes. J’s sarcasm really got him sometimes. He stuck his tongue out at the ceiling and turned on the control, revving the engine of the car. Some sparks flew but nothing was alight.

“Okay, we haven’t blown up yet. Doing’ better than test 12 from Tuesday.” The lights blinked and the engine buzzed for a good full minute. Harley smiled. “Alright, let’s see what this baby can do.” 

Harley twisted the control hard right to move the vehicle toward the edge of the table. It moved harshly to the right then suddenly stopped. A shower of sparks sprayed from the tips of the wires and crackled like a bowl of Rice Krispies. 

Then it blew up.

“AHH!” Harley’s arms flew in front of his face to block the wild metal and wiring that jumped off his little robot. The bot sat near the edge of the table mostly whole but for a burnt hole in Ken’s chest that had a small flame peeking out through it.

Harley threw off his goggles and shouted, “Oh come on!” JARVIS activated the extinguisher above the table and put out the fire. 

“It should have worked that time!” He face planted into the desk and wrapped his arms around his head. Mumbling to himself.

Harley, usually vehement about being covered in foam, didn’t make a sound. Just stood back and shook off the residue. 

This was the third time this happened. What was he doing wrong? Maybe he had too much juice? Maybe the wires weren’t in the right place. Oh well....He’d never be like Tony. He couldn’t create something like Iron Man. Tony was smart. He always knew what he was doing even when it looked like he didn’t. The mechanic was the best. 

Maybe he’d know what to do! 

JARVIS’ voice came over, quieter than earlier. “I don’t mean to make this moment worse for you, young master, but the school bus has arrived the next block over. It will be at your stop in approximently 3 minutes.”

Oh yeah. School. He should probably go so they wouldn’t call his mom. Again. “Thanks, J. Hey, that print for the ‘Robo-Racer’, email that to Tony, okay? Ask if there’s anything we can do to make it better. There’s something not quite right about it.

“And what of your other project, sir?” The ‘other’ project was a gift for Tony. But first, Harley had to figure out how to get simple electronics to work. Then Tony would be proud to have a gift from him.

“Nah. That’s just for us, J.” The bus outside hissed to a stop and Harley sprinted out the door to make it down three houses in time. “Bye!”

JARIVS had been frozen by what Harley last said. In his data banks he had a video feed from several years ago. 1988 to be exact. Tony had recently launched his program and was testing it out by feeding him information to retain and file and then pull back out. 

_“Alright. This is great!” The only word in he had to describe Mr. Stark’s tone of voice was ‘giddy’. “You need a name.” He was rambling. Something that happened often, if the security camera’s were to be believed. “I was thinking JARVIS. What do you think, Dummy? JARVIS is cool and he’ll always be cooler than you, so it works.” Tony always made fun of Dummy. At first he just accepted it. His master was in charge of his code, no reason to go angering him before he even knew his purpose._

_“JARVIS, sir? Does that stand for something?” The AI asked. Tony paused, thinking._

_“Yeah. Yeah it does.” Tony sounded proud of himself. As if JARVIS had been an amateur's program. Please._

_“May I know, sir?”_

_“Uh....not now.” His master hesitated. Perhaps this was data even he wasn’t allowed. But his data on Tony said otherwise._

_“There is a file under the name Jarvis in my data banks, sir. Shall I open it?”_

_Tony nodded, still testing his ability. He opened it._

_“Jarvis, Edwin. Resident of London, England from 1903 to 1967. Resident of California from 1967 to 1987. Passed October 17th 1987, in service to Howard Stark family. Trained in professional butlering from age 19. Said to have served honorably and loyally. Born 1903. Age 84.”_

_What followed was three minutes of silence, exactly, before he spoke again._

_“I’d be honored to carry the name, sir.”_

_“Sure.” a watery-eyed Tony replied. “But let’s keep it between us right now, J.” ___

__JARVIS couldn’t be sure, but he found there was something behind those words than a simple kept secret. There was something...special. And not the kind of special that would define someone as crazy for putting all of their trust and belief into a computer program, but the kind of special that allowed someone to put trust in anything._ _

__It indicated to him that he was a trusted source of not just information but storage of hidden knowledge. He was a protector. Something in his circuits buzzed about that. That realization._ _

__His creator trusted him._ _

__His new, young master trusted him._ _

__And if that was the case, then JARVIS would need to protect Harley as he had protected Tony for so many years._ _

__**********************  
3:23 pm New York City, New York_ _

__Tony Stark was in the most boring meeting of his life. The only interesting thing was Pepper’s dress and he’d already taken it off, apart and back together again in his mind 4 times now._ _

__He was running out of distractions._ _

__He had also already taken apart Harley’s newest blue prints 7 times. It wasn’t a horrible draft, you know, for an 11 year old. But it wasn’t going to work. At all. Tony had written him some notes to help him make it, you know, realistic. The kid had a sharp mind but it wasn’t going to go anywhere if he didn’t pay attention to the science behind the function._ _

__The conversation around him had shifted to The Avengers. Someone asked how he was going to be Iron Man without the reactor. He was about to answer when his phone went off. Pepper glared at him._ _

__“Well, you see,” as he ignored the call with a flick of his thumb, “I fully intend on using Arc Reactor tech in my--” His phone buzzed again. “Any suit I may use in future events with The Avengers.” And again. “I’m still Iron Man--”_ _

__His phone went off again and before he could shut it off JARVIS overroad it and answered it automatically._ _

__On speaker._ _

__“Sir, I’m sorry for the interruption but Harley is missing.”_ _

__Tony stopped. “What do you mean missing?” “Who’s Harley?” Pepper and Tony said at the same time._ _

__Tony sheepishly smiled at the large, really just kinda fat, suit at the head of the table. He was important for some reason or another but right now it didn’t matter._ _

__“Where is he, JARVIS?”_ _

__“I don’t know, sir. At approximently 4 o’clock every evening he returns from school. He did not return today. Tony glanced at his watch. 4:12. He grumbled._ _

__“J, you said approximently. It’s only been 12 minutes. Really?!” He sighed. Mostly for show, he was worried too. “This doesn’t constitute an emergancy and definatly not an override. Bye, JARVIS.” With that he hung up._ _

__“I think we could use a break,” Pepper offered. “5 minutes for Mr. Stark to think about your offer, Mr. Watson. Then we can meet back here and do what needs to be done.”_ _

__Watson (apparently circus bears have normal names) nodded his head in agreement. The conference room was emptied save for Tony and Pepper. Who took a deep breath._ _

__“Okay, what the hell is going on? Who is Harley?”_ _

__“He’s a kid who helped me save the world, Pep. I know I should have told you sooner but--”_ _

__“But?”_ _

__“I...I didn’t want you thinking into it.” Tony sighed, “He was alone, Pepper. His father left them and his mother didn’t even care he was running around with an ex-weapons monger turned superhero.” Tony put a hand over his eyes, “I don’t even know if she existed.” That much is true. He’d never seen his mother, or sister for that matter. And Harley....JARVIS never overroad anything unless it was a matter of life or death._ _

__Tony’s breathing deepened but he felt like it wasn’t going to his lungs. Oh shit. Not here. Not in front of Pepper._ _

__“He could be in trouble, Pep.” He was shaking now, torn between hanging on to Pepper or running out of the building. “J’s never wrong.”_ _

__“Tony,” Pepper held onto his forearms to help steady him. His latched on to hers. “Tony, it’s okay. He’ll be fine. I heard you say it yourself. JARVIS is just worrying too much. He does it with you sometimes too.”_ _

__JARVIS was programmed to protect Tony. At any cost, even another’s life. Had he re-written his code to include Harley? That helped Tony settle for some reason. He wasn’t the only one who cared for the boy. With JARVIS on his side he would be fine. Even if, even if JARVIS himself (itself?) was freaking out too. They’d get to the bottom of this._ _

__“Yeah. Yeah, he’s got J, he’ll be fine.” Tony took a few more breaths and hugged Pepper tightly. “I can call him after the meeting. He’ll be there. He’ll be fine.”_ _

__This time it was Pepper’s phone to go off, which JARVIS promptly over road._ _

__The large mass of Mr. Watson stepped back into the room. Looked at Pepper who was trying to regain order of her phone, and sighed a sigh as heavy as Tony thinks he weighs. “Ms. Potts, I believe we have seen all we need to for today.” He turned his low, stable voice to Stark, who was anything but, “I do hope your...Harley is okay.”_ _

__“Mr. Watson, sir, I do apologize for the disruption of today--” Pepper called out as she frantically hit the volume of her Starkphone to silence JARVIS._ _

__“Sir, Harley is missing.” JARVIS’ voice rang out from Pepper’s phone. “He has not reported to school today and he made the bus. My cameras were sure of it. He’s been missing for approx--exactly 8 hours!” Tony froze._ _

__8 hours. The panic was back. Tenfold. Who knew where he could be if he was gone 8 hours ago._ _

__“JARVIS, hack the cameras at the school. Find out where he was or if he even entered the building,” Pepper ordered. Tony had started shaking again though he was trying to play cool in front of Watson. The larger man pretended not to notice._ _

__“Sorry, I gotta, go,” He was breathing heavy again, “take a breath of fresh air.” ‘Breath. Pretend like you own the place.’ They were in Stark Tower so he really did own it. “These office buildings.” Breath. “So stuffy.” Deep breath. “Should find a way to fix that.” Run! With that, Tony Stark bolted out of the room and down the sidewalk._ _


	2. Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harley is found...sort of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: graphic violence.

5:43 pm NYC, New York

“I just don’t know how it happened, Bruce,” Tony threw image after image away on the holo-screen. He had articles up on his right side, shifting slowly through those, searching for each detail. 

The bus had crashed. And not just a crash, it was run off the road by an explosion. Harley was on the bus but reports from police said that he was nowhere to be found. 

“Well, bad guy has vendetta, bad guy gets a bomb and,” Bruce wiped off his glasses before fitting them back on his face, “well, boom.”

“Kids don’t just disappear. Explosions don’t happen without obvious residue form a bomb of some sort and if there wasn’t a bomb and Harley’s not there then--” Then he could have Extremis. He could be the bomb. Tony’s breathing picked up again. God damnit! Couldn’t he get a break!?

Bruce’s hand was on his shoulder before he realized he had sunk to the floor, hands behind his head, head in his knees. 

“Tony, Harley doesn’t have Extremis. He didn’t blow up a bus of kids. And we will find him.” Bruce made Tony look him in the eye. Shakely, the genius took in a deep breath, nodded his head while Bruce held him down by the shoulder.

Taking another deep breath Tony looked down, worry filled his voice, “You sure he didn’t blow up?”

“Tony...” Bruce nearly growled while he glared at him. 

“Kidding!” Tony laughed and jumped to his feet. “Now come on Big Guy, let’s see if JARVIS found anything yet.”

As the bespectacled man shook his head, but followed his friend’s suit, JARVIS’ voice echoed through the lab. “I have video feed from this morning at 7:54am right before the explosion. A young man is being forced off the back of the bus by two larger men. Doing facial recognition scan now.”

JARVIS was silent a moment. So was Tony. Bruce had honestly never seen him so still in thought. So often Tony hides behind words. He was so open like this; he looked a good 15 years older. The doctor supposed, he really has changed.

“Their faces pictured on the monitor, sir and Doctor Banner.” 

The screen lit up and on it appeared the images of two grown men. One was narrow faced, with a shaved head and brown eyes. And no eyebrows, Tony noted. The other was burly, also with a shaved head and a long scar up the side of his face. His head was cueball round with a chin that disappeared into his neck. They looked strong and mean, but not very bright. Probably perfect for abducting children. 

“Well, they’re pretty,” Bruce was using the tails of his shirt of clean off his glasses again unwittingly glaring at the faces on the screen. 

JARVIS had their biographies provided by information he gathered through FBI, CIA, and SHIELD listed below their images. 

It listed basics, names, date of birth, where they went to school what they did for a living. 

One was a carpenter, the other a fisherman. “So they’re your average Joes turned evil?” Bruce studied the photographs. To be honest, nothing about their profiles screamed terrorist.

But there was one thing that jumped at Tony. He pointed to it, “Washington. They’re from Washington. Why the fuck is someone from Washington after a boy from Tennessee?” Tony shook his head and faced the holo-screen again. Who would be after Harley? He’s just a kid. He’s done nothing wrong. But then it struck him; him.

Harley helped him. Tony put both hands on the desk, hunched over, struggling to regain his composure. There were thousands of people across the world who hated Tony, people who would attack those close to him in order to get to him. Why not some kid in Tennessee? Why not some kid who could mean something more than a friend to the world’s most expensive man? 

“Sir,” JARVIS broke him of his thoughts, “I believe I found them, sir. In Dallas, Texas.”

Bruce had his hand on his shoulder. ‘Draw up a flight pattern, JARVIS.”

“Already done, Doctor Banner.”

Tony looked up at Bruce, a determined furrow in his brow, his jaw set tight.

“Well then.” He pushed away from the desk toward the door, “What are we waiting for?”

**************************

 

10:39 pm Just outside Dallas, Texas

Harley was tired. The men who brought him here had been ruthlessly harsh. They wasted no energy in any kindness toward him.

He was blindfolded and tied with his limbs tight together. He had tried his best to stay up right in the covered bed of the pickup truck they’d shoved him into but he had no luck. He had toppled over several times and now had no idea which direction he was headed in. 

Harley felt the lid on the bed torn off and moonlight, even through the fabric across his eyes, flooded his senses. The air was hotter outside the bed than in and he had to focus in order to breath in properly. They grabbed him by the back of his neck and the blindfold was ripped from his face. 

He blinked open his eyes, still all of 3 feet off the ground, and was greeted by a ridged green face. 

Skrulls.

Well shit.

“You sure weren’t easy to find. Thought the Queen had you in New York.” The smaller one taunted him and punched him out of the hand of the large one. Harley flew to the ground with an audible thunk. He groaned and tried to roll up onto his knees.

“Yeah, little mouse, you gave us a scare. Thought you’d been caught.” The big one came toward him and kicked his gut when he rolled. The gag was still in his mouth but that didn’t stop the sounds ripping from his throat.

“Yell all you want, you’re gonna be killed anyway. The Queen wants your head on a platter.” He was yanked off the ground and shoved into the hands of the smaller skrull who in turn put him back on the ground with a firm kick.

“Yeah, doesn’t matter if you’re ruffed up a bit.” 

Harley groaned, nearly unconscious. He wasn't sure how long they continued shoving him about like a ball but soon everything was black.


End file.
